This article comprises research conducted by Sue Leslie and Myrna Griffith.
Today most schools in Dallas County offer English language learning (ELL) to their non-native speakers of English, but the practice is 100 years old in Walnut Township.
The Schuler Mine Camp School was ahead of its time when it opened in 1926. Built to educate the children of the miners, it offered grades one through six as well as football and basketball opportunities.
In February 1928, night classes began for the immigrant employees who were becoming citizens, some attending school for the first time. Lena Pedretti Angaran, a camp resident, helped the miner-students learn English.
This school was in existence until 1949, when the mine was closed because it became too expensive to bring coal to the surface from three or four miles down.
Most township schools in Dallas County were identified by a number, although some were given names because of their surroundings or after the owners of the land where they stood.
The schools in Walnut Township were all identified only by name. Scattered about the township were Maple Ridge School, Prairie Home School, Pleasant Plain School, Walnut Center School, Fairview School, Valley Grove School, Pleasant View School, Floral Valley School and the Shuler Mine Camp School.
These schools had independent school boards of three or four members each, and they were were responsible to the county superintendent of schools.
In the 1990s, Waukee was recognized as the fastest growing school district in Iowa, but that growth began as early as 1870, when the Presbyterian Church became the community’s first school. It served that function for a total of three years.
According to “Images of America: Waukee,” by the Waukee Historical Society,
the town’s first schoolhouse was erected in 1874. It was a two-story, four-room building that accommodated nine grades. Average attendance was 85 pupils.
In 1901 a larger, brick, four-room schoolhouse was built. This school was divided into four sections—primary, intermediate, grammar and high school, which consisted of two grades.
On July 19, 1917, a petition was signed to form the Waukee Consolidated School District, merging the Walnut Center, Pleasant View, Floral Valley and Waukee Independent School — all in Walnut Township — into a single district.
In 1918, a large three-story brick structure opened, now named the Vince Meyer Learning Center. The present Waukee Community School District was established and remained a small rural school until the 1980s.
In an ongoing effort to preserve the history of our township schools, we are seeking details on the names and locations of the other schools in Walnut Township. If you have any information about these schools, such as their location or stories of students who attended them, our group would like to hear from you. Please contact Myrna Griffith at wpldirector@minburncomm.net, Deanette Snyder at deanettesnyder@gmail.com, or Sue Leslie at densueles@aol.com.
